Minimally Invasive Surgery

Consistent with our mission to promote healing and wellness for women, when surgery is necessary we advocate minimally invasive surgery to resolve gynecologic conditions. This allows women to promptly return to work and resume their activities of daily living.

Minimally invasive surgery is any surgical procedure that avoids the large traditional incision. Often, minimally invasive surgery can be scheduled as an outpatient procedure, thereby allowing the woman to return home the day of surgery.

In Gynecology and Reproductive surgery, Laparoscopy is the minimally invasive method utilized whereby small 5mm incisions in the abdomen are made through which the camera and instruments are placed to perform the procedure. We can discus the best surgical option for your condition including: laparoscopy, hysteroscopy, and the DaVinci Robotic System.

The DaVinci Robotic approach offers distinct advantages at times. By enabling the surgeon to have greater precision in removing diseased tissue, the DaVinci platform offers better outcomes for women. These benefits include less postoperative pain, less blood loss, minimal scarring, prevention of adhesions,
lower risk of infection, and shorter hospitalization. All of this leads to better surgical outcomes. For the infertile woman in particular, this translates into enhanced fertility.

Minimally invasive surgery can be used for many of the following conditions, including:

• Uterine Fibroids: the removal of these benign growths is called myomectomy and is an alternative to hysterectomy. The fibroids are removed while the uterus is left intact. This allows women to preserve and, sometimes improve, their fertility.

• Endometriosis: this is a condition where in the tissue that is normally found on the inner lining of the uterus actually grows on outside your uterus and throughout the pelvis. These growths often attach to the ovaries or other pelvic organs, and cause increased pain and scarring. This often leads to infertility. Recent studies show that removal of endometriosis may result in reduced incidence of cancer in these women.

• Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD): this condition is a complex metabolic and hormone disturbance and is relatively common in women. PCOD is a cause of anovulation, that is, a lack of regular, cyclic ovulation. Women can experience long cycles without periods, sometimes then leading to prolonged irregular bleeding. It also is commonly accompanied by increased male hormone levels being produced by the ovary. This frequently results in infertility.

• When medical approaches fail to resolve PCOD, Bilateral Ovarian Wedge Resection helps to restore the ovary to its normal function. This condition is also particularly suited to minimally invasive surgery, specifically the robotic approach. Here, a wedge of ovarian tissue is removed and the ovary then restored carefully
so as to prevent adhesions. The ovary then functions normally, ovulation and the menstrual cycle resume, and fertility is restored.

• Hysterectomy: this is removal of the uterus. In cases where significant disease in the uterus is encountered, and when childbearing is completed, then hysterectomy is a reasonable option for women. Examples of such cases include large or multiple fibroids, adenomyosis, endometriosis, or abnormal uterine bleeding refractory to conservative measures. Again, minimally invasive surgery can provide women with improved surgical outcomes.